Skywrath Mage/Counters

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Bad against...

Anti-Mage

• Counterspell gives Anti-Mage magic resistance to negate a majority of Skywrath Mage's magical damage.
• Anti-Mage often builds Black King Bar and Manta Style which can dispel Ancient Seal and Concussive Shot.
• Huge mana cost on Mystic Flare means easy target for Mana Void.
• However, Anti-Mage is weak early-game to Ancient Seal until he can dispel silences, but still, Skywrath's solo kill potential is very low.

Huskar

• Berserker's Blood works proportionate to lost health, but Huskar has a decent health pool, and the attack speed granted from Berserker's Blood powers him up.
• Skywrath's armor and agility gain is very low so Huskar can outdamage him or take Skywrath down with him.

Abaddon

• Aphotic Shield removes silences, slows and stuns, possibly foiling a full-duration Mystic Flare.
• Borrowed Time makes it impossible to burst Abaddon down, even healing him up due to Mystic Flare's damage.

Pugna

• Nether Ward will make Skywrath Mage next to useless in fights, as his low hp pool will not allow him to sustain through the damage of the ward should he choose to cast spells. Be wary though that Skywrath's huge burst will make very quick work of Pugna's low hp should the ward be destroyed, and Decrepify won't help you at all.

Nyx Assassin

• Skywrath Mage's low health makes him rather easy prey for Nyx Assassin and his lack of armor generally means he'll take the full brunt of a Vendetta strike.
• is annoying at all stages of the game as it turns Skywrath Mage's high intelligence growth against him.
• Spiked Carapace gives Nyx some degree of protection against Skywrath's spells.

Wraith King

• In the early-mid game, Skywrath consistently needs to use his entire mana pool to kill a hero, but Wraith King's Reincarnation allows him to finish off Skywrath after the first death, as Skywrath Mage will have likely expended all his mana.

Others

• Skywrath Mage generally struggles against heroes that can lock him down and or prevent him from using spells. Legion Commander and Doom can easily eliminate Skywrath Mage with their respective ultimates.
• Skywrath mage also has a terrible time fighting against anything that isn't a hero. As Mystic Flare only affects heroes, his skills are mostly target-based and he has terrible strength and agility, he can easily be kited or harassed by illusion-based heroes like Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer, or by Heroes that summon other units like Lone Druid, Lycan and Beastmaster.
• Skywrath's pitiful defences also make him easy meat to heroes with high physical burst like Juggernaut or Phantom Assassin, the latter occasionally downing a support Skywrath in a single Stifling Dagger.
• Heroes with silence such as Riki, Silencer, or Night Stalker prevents Skywrath Mage from using his spells.

Items

• Black King Bar, Pipe of Insight and Glimmer Cape mitigate or remove your damage.
• Blade Mail reflects a lot of damage back to you.
• Black King Bar, Manta Style, Lotus Orb dispel your silence and Concussive Shot slow.
• Three standard support items work very well against Skywrath Mage, but a good and snowballing Skywrath can work around them.
  • Although Force Staff will save you or an ally from Mystic Flare, a squishy support will still die from a couple of amplified Arcane Bolts, especially once affected by Ancient Seal. Force Staff won't disjoint Concussive Shot, so Skywrath Mage should have vision to cast his other spells.
  • Similarly, Eul's Scepter of Divinity will protect you from the damage of Mystic Flare, as well as dispelling the silence of Ancient Seal and the slow of Concussive Shot, but a smart Skywrath will keep his silence for after the Cyclone.
  • Finally, Glimmer Cape's active ability helps to survive his combo, but if he carries a Dust of Appearance it might not be enough, since the magic resistance is countered by the spell amplification of Ancient Seal.
  • Any combination of the two should allow any support to survive.
• Orchid Malevolence or its upgrade Bloodthorn prevents Skywrath Mage from casting spells, and the latter is especially deadly for Skywrath Mage, as it amplifies physical damage he takes.
• Infused Raindrop blocks a portion of Skywrath Mage's arsenal of magic damage.

Good against...

Timbersaw

• Magical burst damage is Timbersaw's weakness, and Ancient Seal not only amplifies it but also prevents him from using Timber Chain to escape for up to 6 seconds.
• He generally doesn't build early items to deal with silences.
• Reactive Armor does not trigger on magic damage or spells, meaning that even a Pipe of Insight won't give him the massive sustain he normally gets from attacks.

Storm Spirit

• Similar to Timbersaw, Storm Spirit builds items that don't help against silences.
• An Orchid Malevolence will most likely silence you first. However, if you grab a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, you might dispel his silence and turn the tides to your favor.
• Root and silence are Storm Spirit's ultimate counters. Skywrath Mage has a silence in his kit, and has Rod of Atos as his core item. If he dispels one, you cast the other, both leaving him vulnerable.
• If he builds Black King Bar, he spends 4050 gold that doesn't help him snowball effectively.

Enchantress

• Untouchable is useless versus constant Arcane Bolts, and it doesn't help that her strength gain is the lowest in the game.
• A jungle Enchantress can weaken lanes and make Skywrath Mage's job easier.
• The magic amplification from Ancient Seal makes her even squishier to Skywrath and his allies' magic nukes.

Alchemist

• Skywrath Mage can easily harass Alchemist in the laning phase with multiple Arcane Bolts. Additionally, if Alchemist is in the process of throwing an Unstable Concoction, and has no way to dispel Ancient Seal, the self stun becomes an easy set up for Mystic Flare.
• Caution, however, as a decently farmed Alchemist with Radiance and Manta Style can easily send illusions to harass and force Skywrath Mage out.

Vengeful Spirit

• Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
• Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
• Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.

Winter Wyvern

• Cold Embrace is a perfect setup for Mystic Flare.
• Winter Wyvern is a spellcaster, and the 6 second silence from Ancient Seal can prevent her from contributing much.
• Because Skywrath Mage tends to stay back in fights, Winter Wyvern will have to get close to a teamfight to cast Winter's Curse on him. However, if she chooses to cast it on one of his allies, his low attack speed and damage means that he won't do much.

Others

• Squishy targets will suffer in Skywrath Mage's hands. Usually, they can't survive a Mystic Flare combined with Ancient Seal.
• Even though Linken's Sphere will block your silence, you can cast Arcane Bolt to break it or wait until someone on your team breaks it. In addition, Linken's Sphere builders are usually squishy targets vulnerable to silences: Weaver, Queen of Pain, Morphling, Clinkz, etc. Don't forget that Ancient Seal also increases the magical damage these enemies take, along with silencing them.

Works well with...

Faceless Void

• Chronosphere sets up an easy Mystic Flare.
• Ancient Seal buffs up Void's Time Lock damage.

Undying

• Skywrath Mage and Undying is a dangerous combination early game. They can roll over almost anything by spamming Arcane Bolt and Decay, removing your health and your strength. If you survive and don't give them kills however, they should fizzle out when they run out of mana and don't get experience and gold.

Centaur Warrunner

• Ancient Seal buffs up all of Centaur Warrunner's spells. Especially Double Edge.
• Hoof Stomp is a 2-2.75 second stun, setting up a full-duration Mystic Flare on later levels. A 100% slow from Warrunner's Stampede also goes a long way.
• Having a tanky initiator is extremely important, given Skywrath Mage's squishy nature.

Pugna

• Decrepify combined with Ancient Seal will easily cut through Pipe of Insight and Glimmer Cape. However, it will never cut through full magic resistance provided by Black King Bar or Fate's Edict.

Silencer

• Ancient Seal combos well with Silencer's abilities, and allows him to get a longer duration with Arcane Curse
• Additionally, Skywrath can stack slows with Concussive Shot, leading to an easy kill with Mystic Flare.

Legion Commander

• Concussive Shot and Overwhelming Odds combo well, allowing both heroes to run and chase down an enemy with ease.
• With Duel's duration, Skywrath can easily get a Mystic Flare target.

Others

• Generally works well with every hero who does significant amount of magic damage.
• Clockwerk, Beastmaster, Legion Commander, Batrider and Bane all have good abilities to set up a Mystic Flare and they also like to roam or gank. There are more.
• A Clarity costs only 50 gold, but consider a Crystal Maiden or a Keeper of the Light as a support partner if you just want to bully people out of lane all day.
  • Io with a Bottle or Arcane Boots also works.
• Lion, Lina and Necrophos are also magical nukers and will make short work of the sturdiest heroes when they are taking amplified damage from Ancient Seal, as long as they don't have 100% magic resistance. They also provide control over the crowd to set up a decent Mystic Flare.